Hide and Seek
by Aria Medley
Summary: She's on the run from the police. He's got a problem he can't deal with. Harvey and other character. Rated M for adult content in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Here's to my first fic (sorry for any amateur mistakes!) I do not own anything.

Set before season 1 finale.

**Chapter One**

"Miss Joyce, I'm afraid I'm going to have to forfeit this case to the claimant, Mrs Costa, unless your counsel can be bothered to show up"

Alison Joyce once again pushed a blonde curl behind her ear, a tell of stress she'd developed over the years working with Lia; her ever late, ever impossible boss and best friend.

She looked around the conference room and smiled a strained smile, "I'm sure she'll be here soon" she said confidently, although she had no idea where her very unpredictable friend was.

Her client looked indifferent to the whole proceedings, she hadn't taken her eyes off of her mobile phone since they'd all sat down for the prelim. Joyce watched her impeccably manicured nails click rapidly over the buttons and hoped Lia would show up soon; their client was the wife of one of the firm's most respectable partners.

Joyce looked across the table to the claimant, whose dark skin was laced with a thin sheen of sweat, her brow furrowed and her eyes watery. Joyce knew what her firm, well, what her boss, was doing was morally wrong, but then there's no way one argued with Cut Throat, or Lethal Lia, or many other more vulgar names she'd earned.

The Sudanese woman reached for her cup of tea with a shaking hand, and Joyce couldn't help feel sorry for the woman. She knew this was going to be an easy, simple case, and that her client was going to win; they had Lia after all. Lia had only worked for Dean and Bedford-Dwight for 2 years, but she was 'a bloody genius with the law' as quoted by Dean, and was the first to make junior partner within a year.

"Miss Joyce" The judge repeated in the same annoyed voice at having to wait over 25 minutes for counsel to show, "I'm afraid" but before she could carry on Joyce's phone rang, her secretaries number bright on the display.

"Tom?" she answered, not caring the angry looks she received from the judge, or the opposing counsel. "Allie, something wicked this way comes!" he warned in a squeaky and mocking high-pitched voice.

Joyce hung up and looked through the glass walls of the conference room to see Lia striding down the hallway. Joyce had been friends with Lia, or Amelia Harrington, since they had swapped my little ponies in kindergarten and right up until her engagement with Jack, yet despite all her Lia-knowledge, Joyce was still amazed at how utterly confident Lia managed to look. Right now she walked in like she owned the place, like she wasn't half an hour late, wearing the most elegant, tight dress with impressive black heals and her long dark hair in a neat, tight bun, with not a single bead of sweat on her forehead.

Lia strolled in and placed her stylish brown leather bag gracefully on the table and pulled out several papers. Everyone's eyes were on Lia all waiting for her to speak.

She looked around the room, her lips curving into a pleasing smile at how she commanded everyone's attention.

"Right, so this should only take a second" she didn't sit down, but looked over to the claimant, who's eyes were shining with worry and anticipation, her hands shaking as she cradled her cup of tea.

"My client, Mrs Bedford-Dwight," Lia nodded towards the impeccably dressed client, who still had her grey eyes fixed on her mobile phone.

"trusted Mrs Costa here" she pointed to the shaking black woman dressed in a large rose cardigan, "with the care of her children, which Miss Costa failed when she allowed my client's child to fall from a tree causing the 4 year old to brake an arm, there is no grounds for wrongful dismissal."

Mrs Costa's counsel spoke, her voice barely on par with the dominating brashness of Lia's. "My client was appointed as the nanny, and children will climb trees, it is natural; there are no grounds for dismissal and we wish to file for wrongful termination"

Lia nodded, "yes, but my client specifically told Mrs Costa not to let her children climb trees, she entered a verbal contract, and she failed to comply with said contract. Mrs Costa has no leg to stand on"

Mrs Costa let a small whimper escape her trembling lips and she uttered shaking words, "I have looked after those children since they were born, 24/7, they see me more than their mother, she is just firing me because her son would rather hug me than her"

"Counsel, control your client." Lia finally took a seat and smoothed her files out on the grand mahogany table, "unfortunately little Jonny's broken arm was not the first accident on your watch 2-year-Emma suffered a nasty fall on your watch too, Mrs Costa"

Mrs Costa nodded slowly but went to speak, "yes, but its natural for children to fall whilst learning to walk"

Lia nodded, "yes, but there have been other incidents, such as losing house keys, forgetting doctor's appointments, and the succession of accidents demonstrates that Mrs Costa is not a vigilant nanny, and therefore her claim on wrongful dismissal is invalid"

Mrs Costa looked to her counsel, a tear running down her cheek, her lawyer nodded and proceeded, "My client understands that she should be more careful, but looking after 4 children, all under 8, alone, is challenging and accidents can happen. She is willing to drop the charges in return for her job to be reinstated, otherwise she will be forced to return to Sudan, a war torn country may I remind you"

Lia nodded, "my client rejects the deal, Mrs Costa has grown neglectful in her duties as a nanny, and termination of her contracts stands"

With that she closed her files and stood up, ignoring the whimpering from Mrs Costa, "if you cannot provide any evidence that otherwise states wrongful dismissal, then I believe this case is closed" she looked over to her client who had actually stopped texting and smiled.

"Right" the Judge began, "then I see no grounds for wrongful dismissal, there will be no following to court. Mrs Costa the termination stands"

Lia nodded and picked up her designer bag and walked elegantly out the room towards her office, with Joyce in tow, and the client just nodding and walking off to the lift, ignoring the crying from the conference room.

"Lia, don't you think you were a bit harsh on the nanny?" Joyce asked as she followed Lia into one of the largest offices of the prestigious firm. Lia took her killer shoes off as she sat behind her antique desk, and looked out over the river Thames, enjoying how busy London looked at lunchtime.

She sighed and just shook her head in answer to the question. "What have I told you time and time again Allie?"

Joyce just sighed and sat down across the desk and picked up the old, rusty compass Lia kept there. "That I care too much"

Lia tore her eyes from the hundreds of ant sized people meeting and greeting people for lunch, or photographing Houses of Parliament or Big Ben, then she turned her chair to Joyce, "exactly"

Joyce tried to bite her tongue but couldn't help but spit out, "well, you don't care enough"

Lia just nodded and pulled her long dark hair from the tight bun, letting it case over her slender shoulders.

Joyce continued, knowing her friend would probably get angry, but it needed to be said, "I've known you've been like this since we met, but don't you think it's time to drop the She-Devil, devoid-of-all-emotions act?"

Lia's eyes flickered to Allie's, and Allie was sure she was in for one of the well-known death stares and lethal telling offs,but she was saved by the mobile phone.

Lia scowled at Joyce and pointed at her "This is not over!" and she answered the phone.

"Darling! hi" Lia's voice went sweet as she answered the phone, "yup, ok honey, sure, er hur, ok, love you, bye" Lia hung up and looked to Joyce smirking, "you're lucky I have plans with Jack" she said warningly as she grabbed her bag, putting her heels back on.

Joyce nodded, "how is good old Jack, back from his conference in LA?"

Lia nodded; "yup…" she paused, frowning. Joyce noticed, "what?" she asked knowing something was getting to Lia.

Lia sighed, "I think he's cheating on me"

Joyce rolled her eyes, "nonsense, that man loves you more than anything! It's probably just because you've both been really really busy recently"

Lia nodded, "by both you mean me" she said in a rather ashamed tone, her eyes glancing to her hoards of paper work.

Joyce smiled sheepishly, "hey, I keep telling you to lighten up the work load. Hi, my name is Amelia Harrington and I'm a Workaholic!" Joyce laughed at herself but realised Lia didn't join her, "Anyway, when you going to marry him!? You're 26 and I want to be a godmother!"

Her boss nodded, "I…I don't know, I just…" she shook her head, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling she felt that Jack _was_ cheating, "soon, and who said anything about kids?!" her eyes eyebrows fully raised into neat, groomed arches.

Joyce put the compass back on the desk and stood up, "hey, I know you say you hate kids, but I'm sure once you have one you'll change your mind!"

Her boss laughed at her, "sure, right" she paused and picked up a heavy bunch of files then looked to Allie and waved her away, "go on, I know you have a hot date for lunch, don't wig out on me now!"

Allie smiled shyly, "yeah, ok. See you tonight" and she picked up her bag and went to leave.

"20.30, don't be late!" Lia called out.

Joyce smiled, "hey, its your engagement party, I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

"and I want all the details from the date" Lia smiled and strolled out the office, again ignoring a weird feeling in her stomach.

**_1 year later._**

"That'll be $89 please" Lia tried not to sigh too loud as she asked a customer for the total for what felt like the thousandth time that day, as the beeping brought her out of her thoughts. It wasn't that she hated her job; it was that she purely despised it. But she couldn't really do anything else, working at this supermarket store was just the way things were and she knew her life would have to be like this from now on; she had no choice in the matter.

It was the 28th of July, and well, Joyce would have been 28 today. Lia couldn't help but remember the last time she saw her, standing in Lia's office, her blonde curly hair a mess and dressed in her favourite blue dress, an unimpressed look on her face.

She sighed. God she missed her best friend.

Today had just been one of those shitty shitty days, were no matter how hard you try, everything seems to get to you. First of all she had woken without the blaring noise of her alarm; that instant dread of did she over sleep or just wake up early. Her alarm just blinked 0.00 over and over, then as she hastily ran across the room to get her watch to find the real time she managed to stub her toe, her watch telling her she had indeed over slept. After hopping around a few times and managing to get clothes on, within 15 minutes she ran out the building.

The traffic lights kept her from getting across to the correct side of the road where she needed to be, and she could see a bus pull into the stop, and, as she crossed the road she saw the bus pull out; she prayed, pleaded, that the bus wasn't the 21 because that would mean waiting another 15 minutes, and she didn't have 15 minutes, she couldn't be late and loose the one job she had managed to find. She pleaded to whomever would listen, to not let it be the 21, that it would really make her day, would be totally amazing if it wasn't the 21. But, as the bus drove past, Lia sighed as the number 21 shone brightly.

It just got worse; little things like getting her hair caught in her bag, dropping her book in a puddle, forgetting her ID badge for work so having wait an extra 10 minutes for someone to let her in!

Of course, she hadn't had time to make lunch, and she definitely couldn't afford to buy anything, so at 3pm she was starving, which did nothing to help her patients with the ever-obnoxious customers.

She currently had a customer shouting at her about a price being different, keeping everything she had to politely smile and blankly tell the customer that they had picked up the brand of coffee from the wrong shelf, that someone else had probably put it back in the wrong place. But the customer was having none of it, and started getting angry saying things about shoppers rights and if the price said $10 then it was $10 not $14. Lia rolled her eyes, "unfortunately, the law doesn't state anything of the sort, in fact the label on the shelf is clearly for a Nescafé brand, which yours is not"

The woman had huffed at Lia and asked to see the manager. Lia was so close to shouting at this bloody woman, but had ended up telling her it was fine to have the $14 coffee for $10.

Eventually, after managing to scrape some food together for lunch mainly from the food that had been opened or damaged in transit, and after dealing with way too many annoying customers, it was nearly her time to leave, that time of day she dreamt about and it could never come soon enough!

Everything was getting to her so much today, and she couldn't really understand why, well ok, she knew why; it had been 2 months since she'd arrived in the USA, leaving her old life in England behind, and that she just missed Allie too much.

She went to get changed out of her oh so lovely orange uniform.

"Well, if it isn't Mary Poppins, shame we never get to be on the same shift"

Lia pulled her t-shirt over her head and turned sharply to see Matt, the late night shift worker standing at the entrance to the woman's locker room, staring at her.

She took a deep breath, really not ready to deal with him and his wondering hands again, but he was the boss' son, and well, the golden boy of course.

"Go away Matt" she warned him as she pulled her jumper over head and quickly picked up her handbag.

He wouldn't move out of her way as she went to leave.

"Matt, I'm not in the mood", she snapped, still keeping her temper under control.

He smiled sickly at her, and ran a hand through his slicked back greasy hair, leaving a small strand free by his narrow slits of eyes as he looked her over.

She tried to pass but he blocked her again, "oh, why leaving so soon?" he cooed, he stepped forward until she was flat against the opposite wall, then his hands reached out and steadied her by her waist and held her hard against the cool hard wall.

She looked up at him, her eyes narrowing, giving him a warning stair, "Matt" she said through gritted teeth.

He smiled and leaned closer, "oh, you know you can't go running to the boss, because she's, well, my mother, and she's not going to believe a skank like you is she, so you better do what I say" his voice scraped over her cheek as he lent closer, sending a shudder through her body.

She took a deep breath, she couldn't afford to loose her job and she didn't need anything getting ugly and the police showing up, because right now she wanted so very much to do something ugly to this guy.

She gritted her teeth and just pushed him off of her, letting him hit the floor rather violently. "I'll get you for that!" he shouted after as she flew out the door.

She sighed again and managed to make it into the woman's bathroom and pulled her coat around her as she slammed the cubicle door shut before she felt the tears fall swiftly down her cheeks.

This couple of months had been one of the worst of her life, and it had had fierce competition! Right now she wanted to be in her lovely flat in Islington, London, in her warm bed watching a sappy movie with her dog Billy curled up in her lap.

But she couldn't be further from that life now, and she had no idea how she got here. Ok, she had an idea, but couldn't believe she was in this mess! Her! Amelia Harrington, living out of what could only be vaguely called an apartment as it consisted of a bedroom-kitchen-bathroom-lounge combo, with more than a few infestations of creepy crawlies she didn't even want to think about, let alone the mould and the drafts and the just, ergh!

She shivered and pulled her arms tightly around her; trying to stop herself shaking as each sob shook her body. She hated this! Normally she wouldn't let anything get to her, nothing annoyed her, nothing upset her, she had been known at work for her stern and emotionless approach to cases, and life, but right now she was losing herself.

She felt so sorry for herself and she couldn't stand that, but it had all just got to her today, and this job was the last straw, she hadn't worked her ass off at Oxford for 2 years then spent 4 more at Harvard to end up working as a cashier at a supermarket in New York.

Her plan for when she would finally make it to New York had been to be working at one of the best firms in the country, living in one of the best apartments on the Upper East Side, married to a gorgeous man who loved her completely. She was nowhere near achieving any of that dream, and she never would be. She was almost 28, living in a shit apartment in New York, she had no real friends because she was so emotionally stunted she couldn't let anyone in, and she had been pretending to be 24 and someone called Sophia for the last 2 months living here; she had shitty clothes she would never think twice of wearing, and she was running from the police, never able to go back to her old life.

The sobs finally died down, and she slowly started feeling less sorry for herself; at least she was alive and healthy, and not in that place anymore, one more day there and she would have, well, have had resorted to drastic measures; but she was free now, and she was going to make the most of it; she would never go back to prison!

She finally left the cubicle, catching herself in the mirror. Oh dear; she'd looked like that the whole day!? She had forgotten to put makeup on in her rush to get out the house and she just looked drawn, way too pale, overall; like a bloody crack addict! She pulled out her makeup, at least able to put some colour back into her cheeks, her eyes a bit of life, and finally getting rid of those dark back circles under her eyes! She looked ok!

Lia slowly emerged from the bathroom and stopped, she sighed and looked around the shop; it was almost empty and she was thankful there were no families shopping, the kids screaming because they couldn't get want they wanted, or couples hand in hand, all googly eyes and gross.

Lia was about to leave when standing right in front of her was a little girl, well baby, about 1 or 2 by the size of her who seemed to be waddling in circles. Lia looked about but couldn't see anyone else around.

"oh great!" she sighed. She supposed she could just leave the kid and wait for the mother to find her, but then the baby stopped waddling about and turned then looked up at Lia, who couldn't help notice the baby looked very close to full-blown tears and a very noisy tantrum Lia's head could do without.

Lia froze as the baby held up her arms, wanting to be picked up.

"oh no, little baby" Lia cooed as she stepped backward, "I'm sure your mother is around somewhere. The baby stepped towards Lia again with wide, watery eyes and a trembling lip.

Lia sighed and slowly picked the kid up who quickly clung to Lia and buried her head in her shoulder; she gulped and tried to rock the baby like she'd seen others do.

"Hi" she said as softly and as friendly as she could, "Where's you mommy?" she asked as her eyes darted about the shop hoping the mother just hurry up and pop up from somewhere.

"Mamma" she cried out. Lia nodded, "yeah, where's your mommy kid?"

The girl looked up at Lia, a confused look on her face and she started shaking her head vigorously, followed by tears and crying.

Lia cursed, "ok, so how about we make a deal; I don't ask where your mommy is and you don't cry?" she half smiled but then the baby started crying even louder.

"oh no, I'm sorry!" Lia shushed her and carried on trying to soothe her as she started to hunt for the mother.

Her attempts at soothing the kid were failing and Lia swore she was going to end up deaf! Lia was desperate and still couldn't see anyone else in the shop to claim the baby so she started to rummage in her bag in hope of finding anything to distract the kid with; they liked keys, right?

The first thing she found was the necklace that her ex-fiancé had given to her, it was a tiny golden compass mounted on a chain, with _forever_ etched on the back.

She hastily handed it to the baby and breathed a sigh of relief as her tiny hands grasped it and she stopped crying. _Never under estimate the power of distraction_ Lia smiled to herself.

"Right, what's your name?" she asked.

The little girl kept playing with the necklace, enthralled by the compass embedded turning back and forth.

She mumbled something and Lia asked her her name again, "Nnanna" she said in what others would call 'cute baby speak'.

Lia was amazed; she had never had any luck with children, or anyone below 25 for that matter. She always stayed away from children, especially babies, and they generally sensed to stay away from her, so this situation was a first for Lia, and so far; no vomit or other bodily fluids anywhere in sight!

Just then she heard a man's voice shout out loudly for Anna.

Lia smiled at the baby, "Anna I presume?" the baby nodded and Lia too thankful! "oh, there is a god!"

Then a worried man's face appeared in her view from the other isle; he took in the sleepy baby in Lia's arms, looking so relieved, then confused and worried at the same time.

"Anna!" he smiled and went to take the baby from Lia, but Anna wanted none of it and clung to Lia's arms tightly.

"Hi" she smiled at the man and knelt down, trying to put Anna on the floor but again the baby clung to Lia with everything she had.

Lia stood back up and looked to the worried man. He was wearing a very, very, expensive suit, something that would have cost him in the $5,000 range, and his hair look like it had an expensive cut, along with his glowing skin and the way he carried himself she knew this man was either a lawyer or belonged to some high and mighty business on Wall Street. She had seen many men like him in her time at the firm and she felt rather sorry for him that his career had been or was about be ruined by a baby.

"Hi, I found her wondering around alone, thought I'd try and find her mom."

He nodded not really listening and tried again to take Anna from Lia, and again, Anna was having none of it and was now having another tantrum.

"Come on Anna, I've got a lot of work to do, and you've got to have dinner and a bath, come on" he had to shout over the screaming as he tried to coax her from Lia's arms, but she wouldn't move, and almost started crying harder, at which point the man stopped trying.

Lia looked to the man, he looked beyond stressed, behind his moisturised, well maintained skin she could see dark circles under his eyes, and he looked like he was about to drop down with exhaustion.

She could tell he was about to lose his temper and that would not be good for everyone involved.

"Ok, Sir, what about I look after her while you check out your items then I'll get her in the car, no fuss at all."

He thought about it for a second then nodded slowly and sighed, relaxing slightly, and then motioned for them to follow him as he pushed the cart down the isle.

Lia looked to his cart; it was full of diapers, baby food, a car seat, and baby clothes.

"Erm...you're not kidnapping her are you?" she asked, a wave of terror running through her body.

He looked to the trolley then laughed, "oh, no, me? No way. No, I have just found out that Anna is my daughter." He sighed but continued, and Lia noticed he moved slowly and scrunched his eyes up as if he had a headache.

"Her mother died several days weeks ago and I am the only living relative." He sighed again and picked up some beer from the fridge and put it in the cart. "Who ever thought I would make a good father was clearly mistaken"

Lia shook her head, clearly this guy didn't have time for a child in his life, and he just needed, well a push, "you won't know until you try, I'm sure you're going to be a great father" to Lia anyone who didn't get drunk and abuse their kid-physically or otherwise-would make a great father.

He pushed the cart to the checkout and sighed, "sure" he said doubtfully as he started to load the items onto the checkout.

He paused and looked at Anna messing with Lia's necklace, "I'm Harvey Specter" he put out his hand and Lia shook it, "L-Sophia Thompson" she smiled.

"I'm sorry for taking up your time, I really appreciate it," he said sincerely.

Lia nodded, "hey, it's no problem, I'm happy to help."

He nodded, "Nice accent, you on vacation in the states?" he said trying to be polite but Lia could tell his thoughts were else where as his brow was deeply furrowed.

"Actually I just moved here, just kinda looking for a new start I guess" that much was true! She couldn't exactly tell him she was running from her fiancé, and, well, the entire British police force.

He nodded and watched the checkout lady with the food items, his mind going somewhere else again.

Lia bounced Anna up and down on her hip; smiling at how much attention she spent on the necklace. The toddler was cute! Children made her anxious; they cry and vomit or whatever, but this girl was too cute! And she'd been lost, something Lia could relate to being in a place, figuratively and literally she couldn't understand; what the hell was a zucchini anyway?

The girl smiled up at her and a small hand patted her on the cheek. Lia noticed how much she looked like her father; the eyes were the same and she definitely had his gorgeous cheekbones. She wondered if her blonde hair to her chin was from the mother, because she couldn't tell what colour his hair was as he had it slicked right back with lots of gel.

"Let me guess" Lia started, trying to break the awkward silence, and he looked up to her questioningly.

"Lawyer?" she asked.

He looked down at her, "what gave me away, does my complete lack of soul show through?" he half smiled.

Lia laughed, "oh, why so self-deprecating?"

Harvey half smiled, his mind still elsewhere, "oh, you know, just getting the lawyer jokes in there before you do"

Lia laughed, "Actually that and your ridiculously expensive suit tells all, will we be expecting the devil anytime soon to collect your first born?" she smiled and looked to Anna.

He smiled a genuine smile this time, and Lia couldn't help notice how it lit his entire face. "Nar" he smiled again, "Just sold my soul, perhaps she would be better off if I had traded my first born."

Lia smiled again, but she saw how much he really didn't want to be in this situation. "I'm sure you'll be fine with her, after all there is no exam to pass into parenthood"

"Are you saying I'm not equipped at parenthood?" he smiled at her and she laughed, "No! I'm just saying if they let less, unworthy people than you become parents, I'm sure you'll do great"

He shrugged and loaded the diapers on the check out, "well, there should be an exam, because I'd know I'd fail and wouldn't be in this situation"

Lia's smiled dwindled, "wow, you really don't want to be a dad do you" she stated and looked down to the cute girl in her arms, still playing with the necklace.

He sighed again and ran his hand over his face and pressed two fingers hard over his closed eyes.

Harvey looked to Lia, and nodded, his face set in the stern expression she'd met him in, "you think?" he said rather bitterly, making Lia rather uncomfortable.

"Sorry, I didn't mean-" Lia started to apologise.

"No, I just haven't slept in two days, have a splitting headache, have too much paperwork to do, not to mention I've just been given _the_ case of the year, I just, well, fatherhood was never on the table for me, and to become a dad overnight, not something I can handle"

He loaded their shopping bags back into the cart and Lia followed him to the parking lot.

She nodded, she was trying to keep upbeat and positive, but her life was just too shitty for her to even fake peppiness at the moment "You're probably used to juggling work-life stuff, just now you've got kids to add to that combo, everything will be fine"

He smiled, "yeah, except one of the three has to always be in air, or, well on the floor in the case of my juggling skills"

She smiled slightly and handed him the baby car seat from the cart as they came to a stop by his very expensive car.

"So are you at college?" he asked as he gathered up the shopping bags and started loading the car.

She frowned, wondering why he'd ask, perhaps just to make conversation, or perhaps it was because she looked about 22 right now, with her thin frame and plain look, not to mention her thrift store clothes and lack of self grooming.

She was going for young and innocent, and everyone at the store seemed to buy it; the police were looking for 28-year-old woman, with an expensive taste in clothes, with long brown hair professionally kept, and well; she was far from that! The first thing she had done when she got here was cut her hair short; it pained her so much! Her long wavy thick brown hair had been her favourite thing, and to cut it to her ears was too saddening, so she had compromised and cut it to her shoulders. But then dying it red was worse; she had never used bleach or any hair dye before, and now it just looked limp, lifeless, and ginger!

"Oh just a few years" she lied, "I've just been trying to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life" true.

He nodded, "what did you major in?"

Lia faltered for a second, "erm, English" she finally managed to push away her 2 years of medicine and 4 years of Law.

He nodded, "thought about going in to Law?" he smiled as he finished putting everything into the car's trunk.

She looked at him like he was crazy, "right, because I want to sell _my_ soul to the devil"

He shrugged, "its not that bad, once you get past the soul destroying paperwork, the life-depriving work hours, and not to mention the mind-numbing fact that the law is boring, then its a pretty good place to work."

"Well" she smiled, "when you put it like that!" she wanted to tell him that she had loved being a lawyer, that it was the best few years of her life, and she even loved all the mind-numbing learning of the law, and even the paper work!

"I love it!" he smiled a large smile at her and Lia's chest tightened slightly at how handsome he looked and at how much he reminded her of her past life.

Lia started to try and get Anna into her chair as Harvey finished loading the car. At first she wouldn't go without making such a fuss, but Lia managed to find some broken pieces of chocolate from her bag, which calmed her and made her sit still for a bit. Not really the best thing to do, bribe a child with candy, but she triumphed as Anna finally let Lia put the seat belt on her.

Lia turned to Harvey and then he started to take out his wallet and handed her a handful of cash, "here, thanks for your help!"

Lia shook her head and refused the money, "It's no problem, save your money for another suit" she smiled.

He smiled but looked confused, then looked at the money then at the car at the sleepy Anna.

"you know, because she's going to ruin a few of them with vomit, or other bodily fluids" Lia clarified at his confused look.

He nodded and smiled, "I know, I got the joke"

Lia smiled, "oh, sorry, thought that confused look was because you were trying to understand my far superior humour"

Harvey laughed, something Lia found strangely soothing, "superior humour? Right" he laughed again. "No I was thinking"

Lia laughed, "oh, so the taxing chore of thinking sent you into confusion?"

Harvey laughed again; "actually" he said the word in an English accent "I was going to ask you if you wanted a job, but now I think I was wrong in thinking that" he smiled.

Lia frowned, looking confused, "as what?"

"There! The confused look, wow thinking does look hard" he laughed again.

Lia looked into his eyes trying not to get carried away, "Oh no, this is my scared look, surprise you don't recognise it, I'm sure it's what you looked when you where given Anna"

He nodded approvingly, "No need to look scared!" he laughed at her.

Lia folded her arms, "Am I assuming you want to employ me as Anna's nanny/house keeper?"

He smiled another handsome smile and nodded, "well, just Nanny, already have an excellent housekeeper"

Lia nodded, "of course you do"

There was a pause and Harvey continued, "so, you'll take the job" he stated.

Lia frowned again, "Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, because I'm sure you have an amazing house"

"exquisite" he added smiling.

Lia nodded and continued, "and I'm sure you'd offer me a good salary"

He nodded again, "very good"

Lia nodded again, "but I'm not the nanny-type, I can't stand kids, honestly, why Anna isn't screaming and running away from me is a mystery, but Sir, I think you have the wrong person"

Lia went to leave but Harvey sighed and quickly spoke up, "You get to write the contract, you can put in anything you want!" he seemed desperate.

Lia turned to him, her eyes wide, "Are you sure you want to say that?"

He nodded, "Definitely!" he said, "you'll get your own room, a very nice salary, and your own expenses"

Lia frowned again, "Ok, you don't know me, and I just told you I don't get on with children, yet you obviously want very much to hire me as your nanny"

He nodded, "you're good with that child" he nodded towards Anna, then carried on, "You see, usually I am the best closer there is"

"Right" Lia said sceptically smiling at him, but he ignored her and smiled then carried on, "I can close any deal I want"

Lia laughed, "Well you just failed to close me"

He nodded, "Well, I may be the best closer, and I may have failed to get what I want out of this, but I can read people, and you _Sophia_ seem like a good investment. If my daughter likes you then I do. I want you, and if I have to make a deal that is not particularly to my liking to get you, then so be it."

He smiled again, "and I think you'll find I can offer anything better than an entry level job on Wall Street."

Wow that smile, she couldn't really say no to it.

Then his phone rang and he excused himself to answer it.

She should take the job! It was infinitely better than her current one! Not to mention the kick-ass contract she could come up with! And! She knew her identity, as Sophia Thompson, would hold up to all the background checks; she had made it herself after all. But, should she work for a lawyer? If she did she would she be tempted to go back into the profession? It would be too dangerous, the police would be looking for an English associate based on her old life, she didn't know if she could be around something she loved so much yet hide everything she knew and felt about the law.

Harvey hung up and walked back over to Lia, "ok, sorry about that" he looked up to her as she sighed, "Ok" she managed, it was totally better than the supermarket job, she would just stay away from the law firm.

He nodded, "great, so, when can you start?" he asked in a rush, fishing for his car keys.

"Erm" she didn't know, next week?

"How about now?" he said quickly, wanting to get away.

Lia looked to him, nope, he was being serious, "I have to go back into the office now, could you take her home, feed, bath, you know, and I should be back later to talk through everything."

She nodded slowly, wondering if her identity _would_ hold up? What if she couldn't look after this baby!? _Oh my god I can't look after a baby!_ She thought half panicking.

He saw her hesitate, "look, this whole situation is too daunting for me to do it alone, and if there's one thing you need to know about Harvey Specter, is that I don't do pleading, but please, _please_ help me out"

Lia smiled at him begging her and she laughed, "Ok, fine, I can start now"

"Great!" he smiled, handed her the keys to his apartment, then hailed a taxi, he got in and just before he shut the door Lia shouted wait. "Wait? Where do you live?"

"Ray will help you out" and with that he ducked into the cab and was gone.

Lia watched the cab take off and she was left staring at the keys in her hand. "Ray?" she asked herself. Then a guy stuck his head out the driver's door, "Hi" he smiled.

Oh, of course he had a driver!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Nothing belongs to me. All characters and events are fictional.

**Author's Note:** I will try (very very hard) to upload a chapter every week! Reviews and criticisms welcome and valued!

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Harvey sighed loudly as he looked out of the dusty taxi window, hazily watching the crowds of New York blur by on the hot summer evening. He closed his eyes tightly against the obtrusiveness of the mayhem that was offending his senses and pinched the bridge of his nose, pleading his throbbing headache to disappear.

His entire body ached and he could barely control its actions as he tried to kick his sleep deprived brain in to gear and pay the taxi driver as they pulled up to the Pearson Hardman building. He had been put through it today; completely pushed to the max and now he was only just catching up to everything.

Harvey had hardly had any sleep; the majority of the previous night, and some of the early hours of the morning, had been spent in his office with Mike and several other associates making sure every single detail in the Cook Case was perfect before the meeting this morning.

Getting someone such as Mitchel Cook as a client would make his career and really put him and Pearson Hardman in the highest rankings among attorneys, and probably put him down in history too! Cook was not only the chief executive officer of Apple Inc, but also the highest paid CEO in the world, and the huge amount of litigation his company was under could potentially mean millions in revenue for Pearson and Hardman, if they got the case. Unfortunately for Cook, his company had lost against Samsung, and a ruling made last week by a British Judge had forced Apple to publicly apologise, stating that Samsung did not copy the iPad and costing Apple millions in the process.

Fortunately for Harvey though, Cook fired his litigation team for simple errors that could have been avoided, and so there had been a major battle between law firms around the world to become Cook's new representatives.

Harvey sighed again as he entered the elevator, trying to ignore his haggard appearance in the mirror and trying not to let his turbulent thoughts about his _situation _plague his mind.

He had a daughter. Ok, so children had crossed his mind, but in a 'no way in hell, ever!' sort of way and he couldn't, wouldn't believe all this was happening.

How was he supposed to look after a kid, a baby at that!? It was almost hysterical to think him, _Harvey Specter_, with a child, something akin to a paradox; surely the world should implode!

He stepped out of the elevator and into the cool conditioned offices, noticing a few people here and there—the place not as busy as it had been last night with the up-and-coming bid to Cook this morning—leaving Harvey relieved he wouldn't have to face Jessica or Donna until tomorrow.

Harvey had left the meeting before it had even begun, a new record for him. His day had started at 7am, being woken up by his blaring phone, which he ignored; anyone who called that early certainly didn't deserve his attention. But then the same number called at least 10 times before 9am, and when he had forgotten to put his phone on silent for the prep before the big meeting, Jessica had angrily instructed him to just answer the god damn thing.

"Specter" his voice thick with irritation, impatient to get back to the conference room before Cook would arrive any minute now.

"Harvey Specter, this is Helen Wright, I have been appointed by the Connecticut courts as Miss Rebecca Starling's lawyer."

Harvey frowned; he hadn't heard that name in a while, and he'd only known her for a few weeks. She had been a waitress, or a bar person, he couldn't remember, just that he'd taken a special interest in her, and it had been a few great weeks of fun until he'd lost interest and she'd moved to Hartford, Connecticut for a better job. Why would her lawyer be calling him?

"Look Miss Wright"

"Mrs" The woman corrected.

"I am about to head into a _very_ important meeting, I'm sure this can wait" he went to hang up but the lawyer spoke up quickly.

"Miss Starling died a few days ago; an aneurysm"

Harvey froze; he hadn't been that close to Rebecca, but he still remembered how she looked up playfully smiling from underneath him, her delicate blonde hair spread over his pillow. She had been what…only 24/25?

"_Mrs_ Wright, whilst I do appreciate the call, I'm busy, I didn't know Rebecca very well, and I'm sorry for your loss" he sighed again, wishing this woman would just get to the point.

"Mr Specter" the woman sounded offended and carried on in a more stern voice, "You are required to come to Hartford in order for this whole proceeding to be carried out"

Harvey frowned, "I am not going to Hartford, Miss, sorry, Mrs Wright, I don't know what you are on about, but Rebecca and I only knew each other for a few weeks; I think you have the wrong idea about me coming to settle any _proceedings_."

He heard the woman pause on the other end of the line then she spoke again, this time the sternness was gone and she was the usual, condescending lawyer.

"Mr Specter am I correct in saying you have not heard from Miss Stirling in over a year?"

Harvey clenched his jaw, "get to the point"

"Mr Specter, Miss Stirling has a 16 month old daughter, and you're down on the birth certificate as the father" her voice curt and very much to the point.

He almost dropped the phone.

"Mr Specter...Mr Specter?" the distant voice failed to penetrate the haze his thoughts were in. The word daughter kept banging around his head and he struggled to control his breathing.

This couldn't be happening! Not to him!

Harvey managed to cough several times to clear his throat as he brought the phone back to his ear. He took several deep breaths trying to get rid of the tight feeling in his chest, but his attempts were in vain as his breathlessness became worse, and he could feel panic rise.

Steading himself with an arm on the wall, he coughed again and went to speak but couldn't manage to get any words out. He took several more deep breaths and finally spoke; hoping his voice didn't betray how alarmed he was.

"She has a daughter?" his voice nice and strong with no hint of the turmoil thundering inside him. He focused on his speech and managed to bring himself back from the rising panic.

"Yes, her name is Anna-"

Harvey nodded and gulped but interrupted her, "am I correct in understanding that you are calling me to come and take custody of the child?"

There was a short pause followed by a week yes.

"I understand my name is on the birth certificate, but I have had no contact with Rebecca, in about 2 years, and as you can guess from my reaction, I had no knowledge of the child's existence, so I suggest you ask Rebecca's parents or siblings, or whomever to take custody, because I can guarantee you, you are calling the wrong guy."

He went to hang up but again the woman spoke before he could do so in the same patronising tone, "I'm afraid Mr Specter that Miss Stirling has no known living relative, and unfortunately she did not appoint a guardian for her daughter."

Harvey inwardly swore, "then put her in a foster home!" he almost shouted at the woman.

There was another short pause and she continued, "in cases such as this one we favour to endeavour to place children with family members, and you Mr Specter are our only option. You see we have a large surplus of less fortunate children here and we only have a finite number of available homes, so you can see how they would be our priority."

He nodded, he knew the procedures on family law, and he also knew they could hold charges against him if he didn't go pick up the kid.

"Mr Specter, the state of Connecticut legally requires custody go to the closest living relative for the first few days following the bereavement, and you face possible charges or fines if you fail to—"

"Yes! I know." Harvey cut in. He sighed and looked towards the conference room as everyone started to enter and take their seats, including Mr Cook.

"Just email me the details, I'll be there when I'm there"

He hung up, his eyes falling on Mr Cook in his elegant charcoal suit as he sat and laughed at something Jessica said. He ran a hand over his face and sighed as he tore himself away and marched to his office.

"You're meant to be in the Cook meeting" Mike frowned as he looked up from the piles of paper work he was going through on Harvey's couch.

Harvey grabbed his briefcase ignoring Mike's obvious comment.

"Come on" he motioned to the boy who stood up slowly, "why?" Mike asked suspiciously.

Harvey sighed and fastened his suit jacket as he looked to Mike impatiently, "Cook case, I want you at the meeting" his voice stern, having lost all hints of the panic he'd just gone through.

Mike froze and looked at Harvey like the man had lost his marbles, "What? The Cook case? You want me…" he held his arms wide open as if to reinforce the idea of how crazy Harvey sounded, "to stand in on the Cook case? But...what? Why?" his eyes wide with confusion.

"It's time for you to sit at the big boy table" Harvey smirked slightly and looked at his watch.

Mike still looked a little confused yet more scared than anything. "but I don't wanna sit at the big boy table" he whined, shaking his head slowly from side to side, frozen in fear.

Harvey patted Mike on the arm, "you can do it" and he handed Mike a wad of files.

Mike looked at the files in his hands and gulped then looked up to Harvey who was already out the room, "Alright, _Rob Schneider, _I'm gonna go do it!?" he half questioned himself.

Harvey stopped at the door; smiling at the Waterboy reference, "don't make a mistake"

"Wait!" Mike called cradling the files, "what do I tell Jessica?"

Harvey shrugged, "that I need to take care of something"

He saw the boy gulp and before Mike could voice all his concerns Harvey was out the room.

It had taken him about 2 long, hot hours to drive to Connecticut, not including the 45 minutes it took to get a damn baby car seat, as instructed by Mrs Wright's email. The stifling drive was then followed by 2 more tedious hours of paper work and signing almost every single page!

The kid ws brought in by a social worker and handed to Harvey along with a diaper bag. He held her, studying her at first, unsure what to make of her; she had dirty blonde curly hair to her chin and the biggest brown eyes that were currently red and watery. She cradled what a first glance appeared to be a green rag but Harvey noticed it took the shape of a very used soft toy in the form of a tortoise.

The closest he'd been to a child before had been when what's-her-name from the office came back after maternity leave, and even then he'd just seen the woman walk past his office with the child in a stroller, everyone ooh-ing and aah-ing.

The kid stared back at him and pulled the rag closer, her bottom lip trembling and her eyes filling up with more tears.

Harvey gulped, at an entire loss of what to do. He felt panic rise up and almost consume his chest again but he took several deep breaths and smiled at the child.

Her lip stopped trembling, but she still looked petrified and on the verge of tears that Harvey dared not breathe in case of setting her off.

"erm" he gulped again, "I'm Harvey, your father" he frowned not sure what to do and chose just to stand there.

She shoved the tortoise in his face "Mamma" her baby voice sending his chest into constricting spasms, of panic or some form of pride, Harvey was unsure.

"Yeah sorry Kid, no more Mamma for you, you've got me now" he looked at her seriously, "unfortunately" he added.

She mirrored his serious look and pouted.

Harvey nodded, "yup, I know" he sighed, "so, lets get you to New York"

Ray eyed the baby in bewilderment when Harvey brought her out of the courtrooms, but Harvey told him he would explain everything later, right now they needed to get back to New York.

Luckily Anna fell asleep straight away; leaving Harvey to make the necessary phone calls. He asked Martha if on top of his usual shop she could buy everything a baby would need and he would collect it from the store when he got back into town. After the call he turned his phone off, not ready to deal with any more _situations_.

Harvey spent the rest of the journey, which took several more hours longer due to traffic, with his eyes shut, letting the smooth jazz wash over him; head still in utter chaos over what he was going to do.

Unfortunately with only an hour left to the journey the kid had woken up and decided she would scream and scream her little lungs out, sending Harvey's headache higher on the pain scale.

Then losing her at the store had sent him into sheer panic! He'd only put her down for a few seconds so he could collect everything that had been put on hold for him and when he'd turned around she'd vanished.

He'd only had the kid a few hours and he'd already lost her!

The relief of seeing her with that girl, Sophia, was overwhelming and he realised he needed to find a nanny or permanent baby sitter until he could decide what he was going to do, and Sophia seemed to be able to control the kid's screaming, she was funny, and she looked young enough to be able to keep up with a toddler.

Then he'd finally answered the call from Mike. Harvey had at least 50 missed calls, most from Mike, then Donna, and one from Jessica with a text that told him she wanted to see him in her office as soon as he got to work tomorrow.

Mike had sent him a 911 text and so when his phone rang he had to take it, only to listen to Mike incoherently babble about a major new development that could prove problematic in the Cook case.

Harvey strode down the corridor to Mike's area, a few people looking up as he swiftly passed. "Come on" he motioned to the boy to follow him to his office. Mike looked after him frowning, "what? No how'd the meeting go, Mike? Great job in the meeting, Mike. Oh, you landed the case of the decade Mike, great job"

Harvey turned to him and scowled which was enough to shut Mike up.

Harvey sighed as he sat at his desk and went over the Cook files.

Mike started pacing the room, "Where have you been all day? Did you get any of our calls? You know they invented the cell phone so you could take calls anywhere."

Harvey ignored him, "the problem?" he told said in a tone that told Mike to get to the point.

"OK" Mike began as he picked up one of Harvey's baseballs, throwing it back and forth between his hands as he paced in front of Harvey's desk.

"so Apple is a member of the BSA and treats all its intellectual property as a business asset, with at least 176 listed general business trademarks and about 80 service marks and has over 350 cases with the Patent and Trademark Office—"

"All right Rain Man, I _did_ read the files we've spent months working on" Harvey rolled his eyes at Mike.

Mike nodded, "yes, but the outcome of the case we've been given by Cook all hinges on one patent"

Harvey nodded, "OK, can I see the patent application?" he looked to Mike.

"erm, no, well, it, er, that's the problem: it's gone missing" he finally spat out.

Harvey looked to Mike, "Missing?" his deep voice edged with tiredness and not ready to deal with missing patents.

"Yup, but I'm on it" Mike reassured him, then put the baseball back on the desk after a fearsome look from Harvey, "Sorry" he mouthed.

"You're on it?" Harvey looked at Mike in disbelief he didn't have time for this, he sighed, "I'm going to take giant leap of faith and assume you have this under control"

Mike nodded quickly and sat down as Harvey red the rest of the files.

"I'm so excited to actually be on this case!" Mike stood back up and walked over to the window. "Apple's litigation over object code contributed so much to modern copyright law! Their cases came out with two different results in different courts that resulted in international litigation, I'm just so excited to be on this case!"

Harvey looked over the file at the excited kid, "well, hasn't Christmas come early for you this year"

Mike nodded enthusiastically "and Cook seems like such a great guy as well! He's got like 8 different houses all over the world!" Mike said in awe, "and! Get this! His child was kidnapped about 25 years ago when the family was on holiday, they paid the ransom and everything but they never heard back from the kidnappers and the child was never seen again, isn't that so sad! You don't expect high profile figures to have gone through such tragedy"

Harvey looked to Mike again, his face graved in blatant annoyance, and before Harvey could tell the boy to shut up Mike nodded and mimed zipping his lips shut.

"OK" Harvey began, "get everything on Apple's, what, 290 patents?"

Mike nodded, "350" he corrected smirking but stopped at a look from Harvey, "Aye Aye Cap'in"

Harvey sighed again and rubbed his temple, _missing patent paperwork, great, just fucking great!_

So, here she was, stepping into Harvey Specter's ridiculously expensive apartment, with a baby in one arm and bags of shopping in the other.

Throughout the drive to his place Lia had been silent, just nodding along to the smooth jazz that filled the car, which even settled Anna.

But inside her head she could hardly hear herself think.

What the hell was she doing; she knew nothing about looking after a toddler! Ok, so she had looked after a few kids in her time in the foster system, but that had been such a long time ago! They had been 5-years-old at the youngest, and she had just given them some colouring pencils, or let them listen to her music; she had never had to look after a _baby_, feed it, bathe it, clothe it, god, what was she going to do?

She took a deep breath, why had she agreed to this!? Oh, yeah, because her life sucked and she needed the money! She'd managed to get herself out of her crappy life and away from the people she'd met along the way, ending up going to one of the best universities in the UK and then Harvard! Then she'd managed to get a job working at one of the best law firms in the UK, her own apartment, and an extremely wealthy fiancé. She hadn't slaved away at school and university only to end up working in a food store!

What if someone recognised her?

What if he checked her background and her hacking the system didn't hold up?

She could not handle going back to that place! She'd been in that prison for a year and she would do anything to stay out!

Lia looked out the window and sighed; this was either going to be the best, or the most stupid decision of her life.

She placed the shopping bags on the floor next to the large pile of other baby stuff that Ray had helped her carry up from the car.

Mr Specter's driver was so nice, very talkative, and between the huffing and puffing of moving all the baby stuff, Lia had learnt Mr Specter was a very respected lawyer with a fierce reputation who was known for his stubborn and selfish ways.

She looked around the place. Wow! Just wow! She realised she'd said that out loud as she took in the awe of his apartment.

The first thing that hit her was the open expanse of New York she could see through his floor to ceiling windows that let in the last bit of daylight that bounced off his pristine cream couches.

She gave Anna some chocolate and put her down on the exquisite, polished dark wooden floor, that for some reason Lia just wanted to lie on: it looked too comfortable.

"Oh, wait!" she called out to Anna who was about to place her chocolaty fingers on the suede couch.

Lia managed to grab Anna before any damage was done and laughed to herself "couches not going to stay pristine for much longer"

Lia stood in the middle of the lounge, admiring the openness of the place, with the very modern kitchen/dining area leading to the lounge area. This was the sort of place she had envisioned herself and Jack living; with its military tidiness, its sharp modern corners, the kitchen covered in chrome fixtures complete with an expensive coffee machine/robot thing, which she eyed fondly.

Anna struggled to get out of her arms and Lia had to put her down.

"Whoa, you're strong for a 1 year old!"

Anna waddled off back over to the pure cream chair, this time however, Lia was not quick enough and not only did Anna touch the fabric; leaving a nice baby sized brown hand print, but she threw up on it.

"oh you have got to be kidding me!" Lia cursed in frustration.

She looked to Anna, "great start _miss_"

The baby just tilted her head at Lia, a little more vomit coming out of her mouth.

"eww" Lia screwed her face up and went to the kitchen to get a cloth to clean it up.

"Baby: 1, The Richman's Apartment: 0" she said as she tried to wipe the vomit off the couch, her face still screwed up in disgust.

The smell hit her and she almost heaved, "oh my god, what have you been eating?!" she covered her mouth with her arm but it was no use. Lia had a very weak stomach and before she knew it her lunch was all over the couch too.

She wiped her mouth on the corner of her sleeve, "Oh. My. God! Fantastic!" she groaned.

She looked to Anna and frowned, "the first casualty" she said sadly and stood up with her hands on her hips.

Anna and Lia both looked at the spoiled couch, Lia sighed before she went about cleaning the vomit up, deciding she couldn't remove the evidence, she would just have to apologise profusely to Mr Specter, so she placed a towel over the wet area and left it.

"Right, what to do now…guess you're hungry as your stomach contents lies on the couch" Lia looked to Anna then the couch but the girl seemed to understand and nodded, "nam!" she shouted in glee her eyes widened, "Nam!"

Lia laughed, "aww, now that was almost cute" she warned Anna, hoping she wasn't going to get too attached to this kid.

"Ok, food, I'm guessing there is some sort of mushed up stuff you'd like in one of those many many bags" she turned to the huge pile of baby stuff and groaned.

She noticed there was a nipple pump poking out of one of the bags and she frowned, cocking her head at it.

After 5 minutes of rummaging through the baby clothes, the crib, changing station, diapers, toys, she found a bag full of little pots that had pictures of babies on them and held it up to Anna who seemed to get excited.

Lia looked to the pile and noticed a baby chair, in flat pack state and she frowned, "yeah, no, not going to even try putting that thing up" and she went to hunt for a spoon from the kitchen and joined Anna on the floor, both of them sitting in a straight back, cross-legged position.

She aimed the spoon at Anna's mouth but she shook her head, "naa" she said sharply and crossed her arms.

Lia sighed, "I thought you were hungry, look" she smiled and ate a spoonful, "yummm, it's really nice!" she surprised herself with how good it actually tasted, and she smiled wondering if they did these pots in adult sizes.

After half an hour Anna had eaten the whole pot, and then another one full of mushed up fruit that wasn't that great and most of it ended up on her clothes and all around her mouth anyway.

"Ok, so now I guess it's bath time?" she looked around the place wondering where the bathroom was. Time to go exploring, Lia smiled as she picked up Anna and went in search of the bathroom.

She opened the first door, "ooh, guess that's daddy's bedroom" Lia raised her eyebrows at how swanky and expensive it looked, she looked to Anna who raised her eyebrows too. Lia laughed at how cute it was, "oh, I think we're going to get along rather well Miss Specter" she smiled widely at Anna who smiled back.

His room was huge, yet minimally furnished with a simple king size bed that had crisp ironed and neatly tucked in silk sheets. There was a large modern fitted wardrobe on one wall, opposite of which was a wall covered in shelves of old vinyls. "Guess saying he likes music is an understatement" Lia smirked to herself.

She smiled as she noticed on one the bedside tables stood a vintage style Roberts radio, not unlike the one she used to own.

His bedroom had the same floor to ceiling windows as the lounge and Lia noticed there was a door leading out to a sun terrace, complete with more pristine looking sun loungers.

The view looked amazing, as the daylight was starting to fade and the streetlights were just coming on, creating a dull hue over the city. Lia really wanted to venture out onto the terrace and take in the New York sights and sounds but she was terrified of heights, and this place was a long way up.

She ventured back out of his room and tried another door; "I guess we've found his office" she looked around at the room; from the massive wooden desk to the walls completely stocked full of law books. She raised her eyebrows in respect, fighting the urge to ransack his office and read every single book.

The next door was just an airing cupboard with a boiler and towels, and then the next door was a laundry room, which Lia thought had never ever been used! She supposed he paid someone to do his laundry, and clean his house, and now to look after his kid.

She sighed then went back to his room, she really didn't feel right being in here, but she saw the door she was after, "ah ha!" she smiled at Anna, "found it!" Lia placed her free hand in the air in triumph, and Anna did the same with both of hers.

Lia looked around the en-suite bathroom, fully equipped with the largest freestanding bathtub Lia had seen. There was also a large walk in shower in the corner, two large square marble sinks, and really nice tiled floors she could tell were probably heated from underneath!

Bath time was not without incident.

Lia found some sort of baby-bath-holding device from the pile of shopping, unfortunately Anna didn't like it and within 5 minutes of the bath she tried to get out of the contraption and was too fast for Lia to stop her, and the kid ended up falling over and banging her head. Not too hard, but enough to push her to a fit of screams and tears.

After Lia had calmed her down she continued the bath, without the baby-holding device, and Anna seemed to enjoy it, mumbling to herself as she played with the water, splashing Lia in the process.

But then came the faeces incident. Lia didn't see it coming. One minute Anna was gurgling and laughing in clean water, the next the water had gone brown and had bits floating in it.

Lia shuddered as she realised what had happened and she quickly grabbed Anna out of the dirty water, only Anna hadn't quite finished and pooped all over Lia's legs.

Lia swore several times and holding Anna in the air, far enough away from herself, she ran over to the shower, using her elbow to turn the water on.

Unfortunately Lia had forgot to get the baby shampoo or wash from the bags and so she was stuck with using Mr Specter's manly stuff, which she actually found smelt really nice, Anna, however didn't, and scrunched her little face up at the smell.

Lia now stood soaked, her only set of clothes soiled, but at least she had a clean baby who was now wrapped in a nice warm towel with her head nuzzled into Lia's shoulder.

The wet clothes had to go and Lia quickly stripped and borrowed Mr Specter's towel robe that was hanging on the back of the bathroom door. "I'm sure he won't mind" Lia told Anna as she picked her up and walked back into the lounge.

"It's just a diaper; how hard can it be?" Lia told herself as she pulled the new pack of diapers out the bag along with a brand new blue onesie that she thought looked a bit too small.

She smiled to herself in pride as she laid the changing mat on the floor and found the baby wipes. _Easy_. She thought as she put a naked Anna on the mat and picked up a diaper.

Lia managed to maneuverer the diaper under Anna but then she frowned as the diaper looked way too big with the front reaching up to Anna's armpits. She pulled the sticky straps over anyway and picked Anna up, only to have the diaper fall straight off.

She looked to the box; "oh, for aged 4" Lia sighed, "oh, and look Anna they have Nemo on, I'm guessing they're for those incontinent 4-year-olds for when they go swimming."

Lia put Anna back on the mat and looked down to her, "ok, this can be solved, I'm an intelligent person; let's see, I'm sure some tape will fix this"

Lia picked Anna up and went searching through the kitchen cupboards and draws for anything useful, preferably duct tape.

Alas she could only find some flimsy parcel tape, but there was nothing else she could do and so she wrapped layers and layers of tape around Anna's waist until she was satisfied the diaper wouldn't budge.

The onesie, however, was too small. Who ever had picked this baby stuff was surely a bit…challenged; a onesie for a new born boy and diapers for 4 year olds?! Come on!

Lia did the last button on the onesie and couldn't help but smile at how the arms and legs of the suit came only halfway to Anna's arms and legs.

"Better than nothing" Lia shrugged to herself as she picked up Anna as a massive yawn engulfed her little face.

Lia raised her eyebrows at how impressive yawn then looked over to the baby stuff.

"I guess we have to literally make your bed before you can sleep in it" she half moaned as she looked over to the baby's pile of stuff.

Lia had once tried to put up shelves in her and Jack's apartment; apparently they were that easy to put up, even Lia could do it. However she had got nowhere after an hour of trying; the woman could read and understand the most complicated law, but Ikea instructions: complete Chinese to her.

If she couldn't assemble a simple bookcase there was no way she could put that cot together, so instead she put Anna in the car seat, in which she instantly fell asleep so Anna left her in Harvey's room along with one of those baby walkie-talkies.

Lia stood in the lounge with her hands on her hips and sighed. This man didn't have room for a baby in his life, let alone a nanny. There was a lot of stuff in those bags and nowhere for it all to go.

She eyed the bags and knew she should start putting some of the stuff away, at least sort it into useful and totally useless—_like those bloody nappies—_even if she did want to read those law books, that would be her reward for tidying up everything.

It didn't take her that long to sort everything, clothes and stuff in Mr Specter's room, food in the cupboards, bath stuff in the en-suite and so on.

After everything was put away, Lia had eaten some toast and put the dishes in the dishwasher, it was almost midnight, she kind of wanted Mr Specter to come home soon so she could ask him about what this thing was she had gotten herself into.

She slowly opened the door to the study so as not to wake Anna, and walked over to one of the walls of books, a huge grin plastered on her face, she was too excited! _I don't know where to start! _She thought as her eyes scanned the hundreds of fascinating books.

She pulled out a book on intellectual property law then sat at his desk in the big comfortable chair. Lia had read most of the book at law school, but she hadn't managed to finish it, and she had only ever red a copy, never an original!

"Would you mind not drooling on my books?"

Lia jolted upright, staring straight at Mr Specter; his hair not so slicked back as before, his tie loose around his neck, and his eyes even more tired than earlier.

Lia stood up quickly and wiped her chin, blushing slightly, "oh sorry, I was looking for something to do" she lied.

Harvey went silent and Lia realised she was still wearing his robe, naked, and right now it was hung open slightly.

She swore and quickly pulled the robe fully around herherself, now blushing bright crimson.

"Making yourself at home I see" he half smirked at her, trying to sound stern.

She shook her head, "there was a, er, _mishap_ during bath time, and my clothes got soaked, sorry, and I don't have anything spare to wear"

He held his hand up to stop her rambling further, his head couldn't take much more, "OK" he just stated.

She nodded and went to put the book back on the shelf but faltered, as she couldn't remember where it belonged.

"Bottom left" he told her, "So you chose incredibly boring law books over the TV?" he said looking confused, ignoring the flash of skin he'd been witness to.

She shrugged, "English degree, I just like books"

Harvey smirked and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well, that and I couldn't find the television." She added sheepishly.

He nodded, knowing no one would voluntarily read his law books, and then motioned for her to follow him.

She followed him out the room and watched as he picked up a remote and pressed a button, a screen appearing just in front of the couches. She nodded in realisation.

He smiled, "so…was everything ok?" he asked and went to sit on the couch.

"NO!" Lia called out and Harvey froze before he could sit down.

"I mean yes, everything was ok, just don't sit there. Anna's lunch didn't agree with her" she explain as he studied the wet towel covering his cream couch.

Harvey looked to her, "all that out of one little girl?!" he said incredulously.

"Well, not exactly, more like she threw up, and then I threw up, I have a weak stomach. Sorry, I think it's ruined"

He glared at her, "well it's coming out of your pay cheque"

Lia nodded and followed him to the dining table, taking a seat opposite him.

"Yeah, about that, you want to employ me as a live-in nanny?" she asked him as she pulled the robe closer around her; paranoid it would slip again.

Harvey nodded, "yes, I think that would be best, because I believe babies tend to wake up during the night, and I want you here for when that happens."

Lia nodded, wondering why he was being so clinical. She was going to ask where she would be sleeping but he stood up and walked over to a cabinet and took out a nice bottle of whiskey.

"Whiskey?" he asked but she shook her head.

There was an awkward silence as he poured himself a glass then walked over to his large windows, admiring the night time view.

Lia looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to tell her exactly what he wanted from her, but it never came.

Did she start work at a certain time? Or was she supposed to play nanny all the time? Was she going to get a day off? How much was he going to pay her?

She was about to voice all her questions when he downed his drink and went to walk off towards his room.

"Erm…Mr Specter?"

He stopped and sighed, looking like he was nursing a serious headache, "look Miss…?"

"Thompson, or Sophia" Lia smiled.

He nodded, "I am extremely tired, we can discuss whatever you want to discuss in the morning"

Lia nodded, "oh, er, ok, but—"

"I'll get you some clean sheets, you can take the bed," he interrupted her.

She frowned then caught him looking at her questioningly, "what?" he asked, "I'm a decent guy you know, wouldn't let a guest sleep on the couch"

She smiled, "I never doubted your ability to be chivalrous, just your ability to engage it and put it into practise"

He smirked, "do you want the bed or not, because this chivalrous me, is a one off"

She laughed, "Yes, thank you!" and she followed him to his room.

He laid clean sheets and towels on the bed then grabbed a spare robe and entered the bathroom.

Lia looked to the bed and noticed he also left a vest and some shorts, which definitely didn't belong to him.

She wondered if he had a girlfriend, he was rather good-looking, _probably not, not with his workload_, she thought.

Lia quickly changed and started to get into the bed when she heard a large bang then a loud cry from the bathroom.

She frowned then waited a beat.

"Mr Specter?...Mr Specter!?" she called out.

Nothing, "Harvey?"

Still nothing.

She got out the bed and knocked loudly on the door getting a little worried, "Harvey?" still nothing.

She banged harder on the door, "HARVEY?!"

She heard shuffling then the door opened and Lia came face to naked chest with Harvey.

She looked up from his toned torso and gasped as he was holding a bloodied towel to his eyebrow, a very unimpressed look on his face.

"Oh my god, what happened?" she asked concerned.

He pushed past Lia and went to look in the full-length mirror on his wardrobe door, "I slipped on some water _you_ left on the floor and hit my head"

Lia watched him look at the cut in the mirror and she flinched as he flinched.

"I'm sorry," she said feeling a little faint at the sight of the blood. This is why she dropped out of medical school; she couldn't stomach gross stuff.

He turned quickly to her, "Well next time-" he didn't finished telling her off because he went dizzy and had to place a hand on the wall for support.

Lia was quickly at his side, her hands on his hard chest helping him stand "come on, sit down" she ordered.

She managed to lead him to the bed and get him to sit down.

"Let me have a look" she ordered.

He looked up at her and Lia's heart actually skipped a beat, he looked so vulnerable, nothing like that arrogant, powerful man in an expensive suit.

He didn't move the towel.

"Let me look at it" she demanded, using her in-courtroom-voice and placing her hands on her hips.

This time he rolled his eyes and reluctantly pulled the towel away.

She gulped as she saw the blood and took several deep breaths.

"Your weak stomach going to be ok?" Harvey asked not wanting any more vomit to ruin his belongings.

She nodded but the colour slightly drained from her face.

"It's only a minor cut, but you might need stitches" she gulped and put the towel back over the cut.

Harvey nodded, "OK" and he went to stand up but Lia pushed him back down, "wait here" she scolded him, "where's your first aid kit?"

He looked up at her, really resenting her helping him, "in the bathroom under the sink" he said and he clenched his jaw at having someone else help him, he could do it just fine!

Lia nodded, "don't move!" she instructed him as she turned to the en-suite.

He nodded, "don't slip on the water!" he deadpanned.

She quickly reappeared with kit in hand, "oh ha ha" she said dryly.

Lia sat on the bed next to him, making him face her as she started to attend to the wound.

"You'd make an excellent nurse, except for the slight aversion to blood" he muttered, a slight smirk on his lips as she washed the cut, his breath catching her cheek.

"Ex was an ER doctor" she lied. She had only done two years of medical school, but she could remember most of the training.

He nodded but then realized it hurt too much and he winced in pain, "oh, bet you played Doctors and Nurses all the time" he looked at her grinning.

Lia smirked a bit, her cheeks turning a hint of red. She pressed a little too hard on the cut, making him wince in pain.

"You're going to need stitches" she stated and leaned back out of his personal space.

He looked at her, "I don't think so".

"Do you want to scar your pretty face?" she stood up and put her hands on her hips.

He shook his head slowly.

"Well ok then, come on, let's go to the ER"

Harvey shook his head, "I'll go tomorrow" and he went to get up.

Lia put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back down. She laughed at him then went and opened a draw throwing him a t-shirt.

"No" she said using her stern courtroom voice again, "you will go now, because you could have a concussion, or internal bleeding that is putting pressure on your brain, which could cause you to _die_ from a stroke"

He seemed to accept that and put the t-shirt on.

"I'll get Anna" Lia smirked; happy she was making him see a professional. She knew it was just a cut, but the fall could have been worse, and he had felt dizzy; that was a bad sign wasn't it?

Within 10 minutes they were in Harvey's car on the way to the hospital.

"What the hell are you doing to my car?" Harvey shouted from the passenger seat as Lia stalled at the traffic lights.

She looked to him, "oh, yeah, erm, I've never driven outside the UK before" she flinched waiting for his yelling.

He looked at her with horror, "We're all going to die!" he deadpanned and scrunched his face up as the lights changed and Lia changed gear, the car making a horrible screeching sound.

"oh don't be so melodramatic! I am a quick learner," she told him, but he still scowled at her.

"You're killing my car!" he proclaimed and pushed her hand off of the stick shift.

"Just concentrate on the road!" he warned her and took over changing gears.

He was going to tell her off again as the car made another screeching sound, but he didn't have the energy. He looked in the back to Anna fast asleep, too happy she wasn't awake screaming!

The journey was pretty short, and even more so was their time in the ER; the waiting time was next to nothing compared to England. They were in and out within 30 minutes, with a clean MRI and 4 stiches.

Harvey had sat with his arms crossed the entire time, refusing to talk to Lia. She wondered if he was just tired or if he resented being dragged to the ER just to be given 4 stiches.

The journey back was very quiet; no screeching from the car, no noises from either Anna or Harvey; both having dropped off. Lia half dragged a very sleepy Harvey to the lift and into his bed, and by 4.15am all three of them were sound asleep, with Lia on the damp couch and Anna next to her in her baby car chair.


End file.
